The Prison Job
by TrollToez
Summary: Part of the macaronikids!AU, aka R U Home Yet?. Geoff was too proud to admit to his friends that he was short on money. But when he does something stupid for fast cash and is caught, it's up to the kids to rescue him.


Geoff worked hard to make sure he could support his boys. He always said he would do anything, but anyone would have been shocked to see him running at a full sprint down the street with a bag over his back. Sirens wailed and he cursed himself for not planning an escape car. The money in the bag weighed him down and Geoff knew he wasn't going to escape. Rather than give up the money, however, he took a sharp turn down an alley and dumped the bag out of sight. If he could somehow manage to evade the cops, he could at least get the money back to Gus.

Sure, it was probably stupid of him to keep the financial problems from his friends; he had instead just asked for more jobs. But how could he admit to them that feeding five growing boys that he had _chosen_ to take in was more expensive than he could pay for? The boys were unaware, though he had a feeling that the older two were suspicious. He had been eating less and working more, but the bills still piled up.

He had gone over every option a thousand times, and eventually he knew that he needed cash. Fast. Geoff had contemplated using his car as the getaway vehicle, but if the police caught the license plate there would be no doubt the cops would search the house. As if searching the house of a man who robbed a convenience store wasn't bad enough, finding five kids who technically weren't his would be even worse. He knew that there was almost no chance he wouldn't go to jail, but at this point he was going to lose the kids either way. Geoff took the only chance he could to keep his boys, and as expected, fate won.

Tires screeched on the pavement behind him just as he hit the dead end. Dropping to his knees, he let out a single, pained sob. He wouldn't be caught dead crying in front of the cops, but the thought of his boys alone on the streets again was too much. No tears fell, but inside he was screaming and fighting the men who dragged him into the back of a car. It was all over. The boys were going to wake up and run to his room asking for breakfast only to find his empty bed. Or maybe, one of the them would have a nightmare and run to him only to find that it had come true. They would never know what happened to him. As far as the boys knew, he had abandoned them just like everyone else in their , Burnie, and Joel would help where they could, but they couldn't raise five kids. There was just no way in hell.

Geoff sat numbly in the back of the cop car, unseeing and unhearing. He'd failed them. He'd broken his boys. He started out the window at the passing buildings, but only saw the scared and hurt faces of those he loved most.

uuuun

Michael was the first to wake up that morning. He rolled over and splayed his limbs over Gavin, who wiggled around a bit in his sleep but was otherwise undisturbed. Unsatisfied with the response, he pushed himself into a sitting position and flopped over his still sleeping companion. Gavin woke up with a loud squeak, and upon seeing Michael a loud grin appeared on his face. The wrestling match that followed was broken up by a pillow hitting Gavin square in the face. The sandy haired boy fell backwards onto the floor and Michael landing next to him with a similar pillow a moment later.

"Ray! That was mean!" Gavin pouted, arms crossed over the weaponized feather pillow on his chest.

"No what's mean is screaming and rolling around at the crack of dawn," The third boy mumbled from his bed.

"Aww, it's seven thirty. That's not so early," Michael teased. With only a quick glance, Gavin and Michael bounded across the room and in moments a second wrestling match was created between the three of them. When they decided that their rumbling tummies were more important than the game, Jack and Ryan were next in line for a rude awakening.

It was eight by the time everyone was up and moving. They ran into the living room, assuming Geoff would have been woken up by their noise. When there was an empty room to be found, Jack volunteered to wake him up. While four boys discussed what they wanted to eat, he opened the door to the dark room.

"Geoff? Are you awake? Ray threatened to cook breakfast himself if he didn't get food soon, so could you help?" He waited patiently for some response, but only received silence. He walked up to the bed to wake the sleeping form, until he realized that the bed was empty save for a wadded up blanket and some pillows. "...Geoff?"

Jack tried not to panic, but he was sure Geoff would have told somebody if he was going out this early. Trembling in fear, he backed away from the empty bed. Based on what he heard, the others were still playing in the living room, oblivious to their missing guardian. When he didn't know what to do, he usually asked Geoff. But how could he ask Geoff about a missing Geoff? It was time to talk to second in command.

"Ryan, I need to talk to you. Now."

uuuun

The lads were still messing around in the living room while the two oldest held a secret meeting in Geoff's room.

"What are we gonna do?" Jack whispered in fear.

"How am I supposed to know?" Ryan hissed back. "I know as much as you do! He probably just didn't want to wake us up and went shopping or something. Maybe he forgot to leave a note for us. We can't let the others know or they'll completely freak out."

Without any idea as to what they were supposed to do, they headed into the kitchen to make breakfast. They hope the younger boys wouldn't ask about Geoff, but they knew their wishes were in vain. Almost immediately, Gavin was tugging on Ryan's sleeve.

"Why are you and Jack makin' breakfast instead of Geoff?" he asked innocently. Ryan's blood ran cold.

"He, uh, he's…. we…" Ryan was at a loss for words. He couldn't believe that he and Jack had forgot a cover story.

"He's just not feeling well, Gav," Jack answered smoothly. Ryan sighed softly and let Jack continue. "We're just letting him rest for a bit. So make sure that you guys don't go bother him, okay? He just needs some time alone to rest up and then he'll be good as new."

Gavin looked a bit sad at the words, but went back to tell Michael and Ray.

"Thanks, Jack," Ryan said quietly. The redhead just shrugged and continued pouring five bowls of Fruit Loops. Ryan filled them with milk and then called the three others in to grab food.

With an assembly line of sorts forming on the counter, one by one bowls were grabbed and various drinks poured for every kid. They watched cartoons while they ate, and small talk was made. Though the young ones were unaware why, they all felt the underlying tension in the room.

"Are you sure Geoff's okay? He's really quiet," Michael asked while he helped put dishes away. Gavin nodded resolutely, but his voice wavered when he answered.

"Yeah, he's sleeping, you donut. Of course, he'll be quiet." he laughed uncertainly. "Hey Jack, the dishes are dry," he called out.

Leaving the taller boy to put the dishes away, Gavin and Michael headed back into their room. Ray was already in there playing with Percival. The dark haired boy sniffled, and Michael noticed then that he was crying.

"Ray, what's wrong?" he gasped.

"Went into Geoff's room to ask if he was hungry," Ray mumbled. "Wasn't in there. Why did Jack and Ryan lie to us? Where's Geoff?"

Gavin whimpered and sat down beside Ray to play with Percy. The house had come to the agreement that the cat was great for calming them all down, so he had become sort of a therapy cat. Michael stayed standing though, and paced the room deep in thought. None of them wanted to say it, but they all worried about how long he would be gone.

"Jack and Ryan didn't tell us, so either they don't know where he is, or they do and it's not good," Michael stated. "But we all woke up before them, so he couldn't have told them while we slept. I think that they know as much as we do, so it's time to investigate!"

"We can be cops, Micool!" Gavin exclaimed. Even Ray perked up at this, and he ran to grab the toy microphones from his nightstand. He tossed two to Michael and Gavin respectively and the three turned in unison to an imaginary camera.

"Team Lads Action News, go! Today we're investigating the case of the missing Geoff! Where is he? Who knows! Let's find out!"

"To start the search, we turn to our lead suspects in the crime for interviews!" Ray added to Gavin's narration. The door to Ryan and Jack's room was nearly knocked off its hinges when they barged in.

Each boy was sitting cross legged on their own bed, facing each other. Whatever conversation they had been deep into was halted by three pairs of feet planting themselves resolutely between them.

"We know the truth, you thieves! Where'd ya hide Geoff?" Michael interrogated. The stony look melted off Ryan's face instantly and he collapsed backwards onto the mattress. Jack put his head in his hands and shook his head.

"So you don't know! Then we're recruiting you both in our investigation to find him," Gavin chirped into his mic.

"Yeah, we need two kickass sidekicks!" Ray added eagerly.

"Language," Ryan reprimanded numbly. But without protest, both were lead back to the living room and plopped onto the couch. The lads somehow assembled themselves on two laps in a way that was comfortable for the sitters, but not the sat-upon.

"You know, we've been trying to think of what to do all day. There isn't anything to be done. We're just kids," Ryan said sadly.

"Well we could break him out of jail, couldn't we?" Gavin asked innocently.

"What makes you think he's in jail?" Jack asked the boy in his lap.

Gavin pointed to the muted TV, were the news showed a report of a store that had been robbed last night. There on the screen was a mugshot of their missing father figure.

"Oh my god!" Jack cried out.

"Why didn't you mention that earlier?" Michael yelled at Gavin.

"I thought you guys were watching it too," he replied sheepishly.

"I want pizza," Ray contributed.

Ryan clapped his hands loudly to get everyone's attention. "Alright listen up, guys!" He looked around to make sure there was nobody listening in, and then he grinned evilly. Jack stared warily back. That face never meant anything good.

"I think we all know what this means. We're gonna have our first heist."

uuuun

The couch was shoved back against the wall and the coffee table was slid to the side. Chips and drinks sat inside of the circle of children on the floor along with notebooks, pencils, and various "heist tools". Everyone shared ideas for breaking Geoff out, and Ryan wrote down the good, or at least feasible, ideas. Jack had started writing down the humorous ones, which mainly included Gavin's ideas.

"...So then if we throw the squid at the guards, they'll never see the fruit coming…" the aforementioned Brit was explaining. Michael opened his mouth as if to cut him off, but quickly closed it again. Gavin saw it anyway, and turned to him.

"What's up, Michael? You wanna use tennis balls instead?" he asked.

"Well that's stupid, Gav. I was thinking that I might know someone who can help…"

Everyone waited for him to respond, and he blushed and looked away. "It's dumb anyway… But, I know this girl,"

"_Oooooohh Michael's got a cruushhhh,"_ Ray grinned.

"Shut up, Ray! I do not! Anyway, her mom's a cop. Maybe Lindsey know some stuff about cops n' jail, ya know?"

After some discussion, it was decided that they'd go see Michael's friend- who happened to live in an apartment downstairs. The entire time they were heading to the door Michael was insisting that he did not, if fact, have a crush on Lindsay, and that she wasn't that cool, anyway. By the time they were knocking on the door he was a blushing, stuttering mess. No one commented on it, but Gavin was doing a poor job of stifling his giggles.

It was a girl about the lads' age with bright red hair who answered. She peered around the corner and lit up with excitement when she saw Michael at the front of the group. She wrapped him in a huge bear hug and greeted him warmly.  
"I missed you, Michael! Where have you been? Are these your brothers?" She asked rapid fire as she gazed at the rag tag group of boys all watching with various levels of amusement. Jack smiled warmly at the last question and held out a hand for her to shake.

"I'm Jack. I suppose we are his brothers, yes. This is Gavin, and Ray, and Ryan," He said, pointing to each one as he went.

"Michael has told me so much about you guys. I was wondering when I'd finally the boys I'd heard so much about!" Michael had wiggled his way out of her grip and finally worked up the nerve to speak.

"Lindsay, we have a very imp-portant mission that we need your help with," he stuttered. "But you can't tell anyone. It's top secret."

"My family isn't home right now, so you can come on in," she said immediately. They were halfway through the door when she stopped in her tracks. "You didn't kill anyone, right? 'Cause my mom's a cop and she'd probably find out."

"We didn't kill nobody! ...yet," Ray said. She just laughed and led them into her room.

The bedroom was an explosion of pink and cats. Posters lined the walls and stuffed animals covered her bed.

Jack explained the situation to her quickly, and she nodded right along with it. "Well you've come to the right gal! I got just what you need." She opened her closet door and moved aside storage bin to reveal a low hole in the wall. "Don't tell my mom I made that," she whispered.

Reaching into the hole, she pulled out some pieces of paper that had been worn and folded many times. Flipping through them, she muttered to herself until she proudly held up a blue sheet. "Ta da! The prison!"

Ryan took the paper and stared with an open mouth at the sheet. "The blueprints!? Where did you get this!?"

"My mom's a cop," she retorted, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Ryan continued to study the sheet with five extra pairs of eyes peering over his shoulder. "I think we could actually do this," he said in wonder. The boys cheered and Lindsay grinned smugly.

"You aren't going to tell your mom, right?" Jack asked nervously.

"Not unless you tell my mom about the papers I st- um, have," she responded.

The boys went back upstairs, promising to keep her informed and to call her if they needed any more help. She waved them off and when Michael looked back one last time he saw her give a salute to them. He waved back and ran back upstairs before the others noticed him lingering. He didn't have a crush. She wasn't that cute anyway…

uuuun

Once again they were in the circle of planning. But this time, there was actually a plan. Gavin left to go across the hall and talk to Burnie. They didn't tell him what they were plotting, but wanted him to be available to be an extra escape car if necessary. He worried, but didn't ask why.

Second, they loaded up GTA V to test their idea. Lindsay was called up once more to be Geoff's character, and they started part one of the heist. Testing. After extensive testing, and some extra bomb throwing and robbery, Lindsey ran back home before her family got back, and they were ready to try it for real.

Jack sat on the couch with the phone in his hand. He still hadn't dialed, but instead was mumbling to himself and staring at the ceiling. "We're kids. We aren't even old enough to drive. Why. Why am I doing this. Why did I have to meet him. What am I doing with my life." Just as he started dialing the number, the phone rang. He jumped three feet into the air and stared at the device at his hang. The unknown number glared back. He knew not to answer suspicious phone numbers when Geoff wasn't home, but something told him it was important.

_Click_ "...Hello?" he asked shyly.

"Jack! Oh thank god! Oh thank god. Are you okay?" the man on the other end of the line let out a shaky laugh.

"_Geoff! _Where are you? Are _you_ okay? What the heck happened we saw you on the news. You robbed a store?!" By now the other boys were freaking out. Everyone was jumping on the couch and trying to scream into the phone at once, asking questions and yelling generally crazy details about their plan. Jack struggled to hear what was happening on the other side of the line.

"_Everybody SHUT UP!" _he yelled angrily. The others fell silent and stared at him. "...Sorry." He sighed and put the phone back to his ear.

"Geoff? How are you?" he asked again.

"I'm fine, buddy. Don't worry about me. Listen though, I don't have much time. I'm in some pretty big trouble and I need you guys to go over to Gus'. Tell him everything, and that you need to hide. If the police find you they will take you away. I'll figure out a way to fix this, I promise. I love you guys so so much. I'm so sorry; I never meant for this to happen." Geoff's voice was quiet and cracked like he was trying not to cry.

"It's alright," he reassured the man. "We're fine by the way, just worried. We will come get you out of there. We have a plan and everything. Can you get up onto the roof at six?"

Finally giving in to the silent pestering and poking on his side of the line, Jack put the phone on speaker and then signaled for them to be quiet.

"What do you mean you have a plan? Please just go talk to Gus. He'll help you until I'm out. Pack backpacks in case you sleep over and bring Percy too," His voice was stern, but they could hear him laughing.

"We'll see Gus, but _please_ promise to get on the roof at exactly six. I don't care what you have to do!"

"Okay. I promise. I have to go soon, are the other boys there?"

In unison, a deafening chorus of "HI GEOFF," blared into the phone. This time his laughter was loud and happy.

"Hi boys!" he called back. "I gotta go, but I guess I'll see you soon…?" He sounded confused but there was a hint of hope. The phone let out a beep signaling the end of the call, and for once the room was dead silent.

"He's okay," Ryan said quietly. Then louder, he cried out "Geoff's okay!" The lads cheered in response. Jack however, stood and walked to the corner of the room with the phone.

"Are you calling Gus?" Michael asked.

"No. I'm calling someone who can help," he stated. He dialed a number, and after a long and mysterious phone call he finally got to the point. "Anyway, Rusty, I need a cargobob fast. Think you can get one?"

"Well _I_ can't but I know a guy who has one for real cheap. I suppose I do owe you that favor… Okay. I'll call him up. He'll land the thing at that landing pad nearest to where we were. Any chance I could hear why a twelve year old kid needs a chopper?"

"Not a chance. Just watch the news later, okay?"

Jack looked up at Ryan and frowned."Okay I did my dirty work. Now you do yours."

Ryan winced and nodded grimly. Before he got to work though, it was lunch time. When everyone had their princess noodles, Ray grabbed Percy and they headed out. Everyone jumped onto their bikes, and Percival was placed into the basket of Ray's very girly bike, and then they were off. They peddled down to Ryan's old house and he stood in front of it wearily.

"I can go grab the keys if you want," Jack offered. He couldn't imagine how hard this was for Ryan, but they needed the boat.

"No, I have to do this," he replied. Ryan ran around to the back of the house and crept in through the back door he knew would be unlocked. He could see Bill sitting on the couch with a beer, but the other kids were nowhere to be seen. Ryan grabbed the keys off the kitchen counter and ran out.

"Hey! Finn is that you? Aren't you supposed to be with Martha?" Bill yelled out angrily. Ryan sprinted out of the house without speaking another word and was back with the others in moments. He held out the keys, slightly out of breath, and they all cheered and hugged him.

Once again on the road, this time they rode in the opposite direction. Once at the helicopter pad, the cargobob sat just as promised. A rather sketchy looking man stepped out of the helicopter, and stared them all down.

"Yer the kids I'm pickin' up?" The man looked anything but trustworthy. He looked more suited to be a criminal than a pilot, and judging by the chopper he had pulled out of thin air, he was probably both.

None of them were sure they wanted to answer that, except Gavin who ran up to the man happily. "Yeah! You're gonna help us break Geoff out of jail!" he squeaked. The intimidating stare that was glaring down at the boy seemed to have no effect. Eventually, he seemed to give up on scaring the boy and just shrugged.

"I'm Oxie. And no, that's not my real name. Get in."

The older boys lifted the younger ones onto the cargobob and then they were all strapped into the seats in the back. Each boy had been given a parachute and Percy has somehow strapped to Ray's.

"Any last questions before we lift off?" Oxie called back.

Several questions were fired back at him at once.

"What's 'Oxie' stand for?"

"Where's the bathroom?"

"Can I sit up front?"

"Do you even know how to fly this thing?"

Without a pause, he answered them all in one go. "Oxidization. There isn't one; don't pee in this thing it's a rental. Yes. And, um, kinda."

Then the blades started whirring and they were all in the air. Jack sat in front studying the way Oxie flew, and the others were yelling over the sound of the blades.

"I've never been in a helicopter!" Michael called out.

"Me neither, but I'm pretty sure almost crashing into trees isn't a normal occurrence!" Ryan yelled back. Just as he spoke, the aircraft swerved harshly to avoid a tall oak. Jack yelled directions on where to go, and not long after they were hovering above a large speed boat at the docks. It took several minutes of Oxie hitting random buttons and screaming that he "totally got this!" until Jack hit the large red button and the hook finally dropped.

When they finally had the boat in the air, they dropped it in a bay where they could get to it to escape with Geoff.

For some reason on the way to the jail, Oxie decided that he needed to fly unnecessarily low to the ground to scare pedestrians. There was a loud crash, and he quickly pulled back up into the sky. Ray looked down to see that damage had been done, and found something much better instead.

"Oxie you hooked a limo! We can use it to drive away! But the driver just jumped out so we have to drive it…" Oxie didn't answer that, so the boy figured it wasn't important.

The prison was surrounded by a tall chain link fence, and all sorts of vehicles and soldiers were guarding inside the fence. They stayed a fair enough distance away so the cops wouldn't be overly suspicious, and surveyed the area. They waited until the clock struck six, and within moments an orange blur appeared a ways away on the roof of one of the building. Several cops and security guards were following him, and he dodged and weaved frantically to get away.

"There he is!" Ryan yelled. "Go get him!"

Oxie flew into the base, and the momentary panic due to the new, larger disturbance caused the cops on the roof and ground alike to start firing randomly at the chopper. The sound of bullets hitting the bottom of the cargobob startled Percival to the point that he jumped out of Ray's arms and onto the control panel. Oxie screamed and swerved the aircraft around as the cat latched directly onto his face. Unable to see, the pilot spun the chopper around in tight circles, rising and lowering spasmodically. Rockets fired randomly while he smacked around the cockpit, trying to dislodge the cat. Ray unbuckled and tried in vain to calm Percival down, but it was no use. He grabbed the cat and placed one foot on Oxie's side. pushing the man away and pulling the cat towards the back did no good; Percy only held on tighter.

With the pilot still screaming and Ray kicking him rather violently, the chopper was beginning to spin out of control. The confused cops had brought out the tank, but weren't firing. Instead, they watched the strange helicopter spin around while flinging a limo. Even Geoff had stopped running in favor of watching what he assumed to be his rescue. As if there wasn't already enough panic in the prison, the doors to the roof suddenly opened again to allow several prisoners onto the roof. Even more started pouring out of the main doors and the cops were at a complete loss.

Ray's struggle had put him dangerously close to the open door. He sat on top of Oxie and scolded his cat repeatedly. Oxie continued to flail but somehow missed the cat every time. In a desperate attempt, he swung a punch as hard as he could and smacked Ray in the head. The boy tumbled off of him and towards open air, and Ryan dove after him. The boys that remained seated were freaking out and Jack struggled to keep the chopper in the air. As the two boys fell out of the seat with man and cat in tow, they were sure this was how it was going to end.

"Ryan? Are you still up here?" Gavin asked fearfully.

There was a brief moment of silence, and then; "I'm still in the air!" Then the boy sat up and stared at Jack with wide eyes. "But they aren't!"

The red haired boy jumped into the pilot's seat and leveled the cargobob and kept one hand clamped firmly on the back of Ryan's shirt. He hung slightly over open air and he called over his shoulder about what he saw. "Oxie hit the ground but it wasn't that far. The cops have him though, so we've lost our pilot. Oh my gosh! Ray landed on the tank with Percy! He's- He's getting in! And now that driver is climbing out! I think Percy was attacking him, too!"

Sure enough, the tank started to spin around and move back and forth a bit. The nine year old controlling the tank appeared to have help from his cat when the machine started firing rockets at open air. The driver regretted running back at the tank when the barrel of the tank gun suddenly swung around and clotheslined him. With the driver on the ground and the other cops running for heavier artillery, the rescue was back on track. Jack had picked up enough from watching Oxie drive to steer towards the roof. He managed to land both the limo and the cargobob on the roof, and a moment later Geoff's head popped up from behind a pillar. His grin only grew wider when he saw the tiny red head that barely peeked up from over the dashboard.

Michael jumped out to hug Geoff, and then both of them jumped into the limo. The helicopter took off again, and they were followed quickly by a tank, which was still firing. Ray blew the front gate off of the fence, and cleared a path for him and his cat to escape. The trail of prisoners that had gathered in the courtyard ran after the tank, and several of them jumped up onto the back of it. The strange parade of criminals made their way out of the prison with no resistance.

Once outside, the criminals dispersed into the streets. The panic that had formed in the general public only grew, but they didn't call the police. After all, the police were panicking right along with them.

When they found a part of the street open enough to land on, the cargobob and tank let out a stream of children who climbed into the back of the limo. The car sped off towards the bay and the kids spent the few minutes of driving to catch up with their fugitive. Apparently, he'd had a cellmate name "Big Dong" and was rather happy to have a quick escape.

"I don't wanna think about what would've happened at night," Geoff shuddered.

The boat was still sitting there, just as promised, and they all hopped in.

"Can I drive, Geoff? Can I? I know how!" Ryan pleaded.

"You guys broke me out of jail. You can drive anything you want," he said back.

Ryan turned out to be an excellent captain, and they were sailing in open waters. The cops had given up on them since they hadn't actually killed anybody, and went after the serious criminals instead. Ryan continued to drive into the sunset until everyone decided that they were hungry. Turning the boat back to the direction of their house, Geoff realized just how far the boat had taken them. "Hey, head back to land, okay? I think the train that goes by our house comes from this way."

All of the boys sat beside the track, somehow fitting all five of them into Geoff's lap. The train came a few minutes later, and Geoff lifted them all into the slow moving vehicle. He sat against the rim of the train bucket and listened happily to the story that the boys told. Michael sat a ways to the side and pulled the walkie talkie out of his pocket.

"Hey Lindsay, we got him! We're on the train back home so we'll see you soon."

The walkie talkie crackled before her voice cut through. "Awesome! Can you stop by my place before you go upstairs? I wanna see you guys."

Michael confirmed it and went back to sit with the others. They talked endlessly until the train went by their house. They all hopped out and started the short walk back home.

"I can't believe you guys actually did this," Geoff said in wonder. "I mean, it was entirely stupid and you could have died. And I know I'm supposed to be the adult and say 'don't do it again', but that was awesome! I think I might still be a wanted criminal, but we can deal with that later."

They found Lindsay in her living room alone, so she was of course invited upstairs for a sleepover. They all sat in a blanket nest in front of the TV, watching movies and eating popcorn. Everything seemed to be normal until the door slammed open. Geoff was instantly in front of the kids, who were in turn attempting to shield him. The pile of failed protection stared up at one flustered and very angry Burnie.

"I JUST SAW THE NEWS! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?! IS THIS WHY YOU NEEDED BACKUP?!"

"Calm down, Grandma Burnie. Everybody's fine. See?" Gavin said calmly, as if they hadn't just destroyed the city prison.

But Burnie wasn't finished with them yet. He paced the room as he continued his rant about the irresponsibility and stupidity of this whole goddamned family. When he finally stopped for breath, Geoff cut him off.

"Thanks for worrying, but you can't really be mad. It was pretty fucking fantastic." He paused before something occurred to him. "Wait, they didn't tell you guys anything?" Burnie shook his head and Geoff turned back to the guilty looking boys. He raised one eyebrow, but a smile tugged at his lips.

They all smiled back and even Burnie couldn't hold an angry face. Instead, he sat down with them and they unpaused Finding Nemo. It didn't last long before the door opened again to reveal an uncharacteristically happy Joel. He had a large grin on his face and shopping bags under both arms. He put them down and pulled out snacks, two two-litres of pop, and a six pack of whiskey. He only said, "Nice job," and then he was under the blankets as well.

Gus showed up later in the night while he was searching for his missing housemates, and decided to stay the night with them rather than question it. He was somehow unaware of the days events, and didn't even ask why Geoff was wearing an orange jumpsuit.

They all fell asleep in their nest in front of the TV, with the Mission Impossible credits still rolling. The next morning they retold their greatest adventure to the others, and then the adults sent the kids back to their bedrooms to play.

Geoff knew what was coming, but he stayed silent while the other three started him down. "We all know what you did…" Burnie started.

"... So why in the hell did you do it?" Gus finished.

"For shit and giggles?" Geoff tried weakly. "Well, I needed money. I didn't want to admit that I can't pay for all of these guys on my own."

He hadn't seen his friends looked that shocked in a very long time. Nobody spoke; just continued to look at him in disbelief. Surprisingly, Joel was the first to speak. "I got a call this morning. Police need help catching all the criminals you idiots let out. Real high paying job opening, if you want it." Geoff agreed, and then Burnie spoke up.

"We also have some opening for editing in our new movie. You can have a permanent job there if you want," Burnie mentioned nonchalantly.

Geoff couldn't believe what he was hearing. He had been so used to barely scraping by on random jobs that this sounded like a dream. Maybe he could actually afford to keep his kids happy and healthy. He grabbed Burnie in a bear hug and then grabbed the other two before they could escape.

"I didn't do anything," Gus mumbled into Geoff's shoulder.

"You know you love it," he teased.

uuuun

Geoff's world had turned around. With his friends now aware of his situation. they had all pulled together to help. He had a steady income and extra cash coming from rounding up the big name criminals. The police had dropped the charges on him because of all of the help he was at the station, and they never found out about the kids he had robbed the store for. Nobody knew what had really happened, because the cops had lied to the newscasters about what they saw. Instead of admitting that they had been beaten by little kids, they fabricated a story about a hardcore gang of criminals that had busted in. With a 'top notch pilot flying skillfully to evade fire', and a 'weapons specialist that commandeered a tank', the story was accepted as the truth. Who would have suspected five innocent kids, anyway?

Jack had gotten word through Rusty that Oxie had escaped with the flow of prisoners, and that he'd found the helicopter at the bay. Everything seemed to be in order, and they were all thankful for that. The adventure had been fun, but they didn't want to test their luck and do it again. Geoff had been forced to take an oath that if he was going to do anything illegal again, he had to include all of the boys too. And Lindsay, of course.


End file.
